Games suitable for playing in a parlor-type environment or the like have long existed in the art for providing amusement to one or more players of the type wherein the primary feature of the game was a test of mental agility or recall. Whilst numerous such games have been devised, as a source of amusement and diversion, they often can tend to defeat the purpose of providing a source of relaxation.
Moreover, the strong appeal of testing one's manual dexterity and hand-eye co-ordination accordingly led to the devising of various other gaming devices which sought to test such skills of the player or players. A familiar example of this is the bean bag toss wherein a player seeks to toss a bean bag into an aperture or apertures of varying size in a backstop board.
Several deceptively simple-appearing problems and tradeoffs are associated with devising such a game. First, for maximum utility, the game must provide a great deal of variety in operation and skills being tested in order to avoid boredom. In this respect, the aforementioned bean bag game suffers greatly. Secondly, for optimum utility, such a game would desirably appeal to adults as well as children, and thus require variety as well as a wide range of physical skills necessary to play. Again, in this respect, such amusement devices as bean bag, ball, ring tosses or the like fall far short of this objective.
Yet a further constraint on the particular game design is that, for versatility, it should ideally be adapted for use both individually and by groups of players. In the latter case, it is further desirable for such a game to be played by a plurality of players individually in sequence, as for example in a party setting wherein the other enjoyable aspects of the party may be experienced by the players while awaiting their turns and wherein the possibilities of team play exist as well as individual play amongst the group. Still a further problem with devising a satisfying game design is that, particularly for parlor-type applications, it must be relatively compact for storage and portability and fashioned in such a manner that it is self-contained.
These and other shortcomings associated with prior art game designs are overcome by the instant invention wherein an amusement device and method of use requiring physical participation are provided affording great variety in terms of skills, age levels and tasks necessary to play, interest generated over such wide age and physical ability ranges, adaptation to solo or group play, and convenience of storage.
These and other advantages and objects of the invention may be more clearly understood with reference to the accompanying drawings and detailed description, wherein: